Slow to Grow

  Chapter

  Another month went by, and then something happened that changed his life forever. His mother found a lump on her breast. They needed to do a biopsy. The stress of it caused him to shut down everything in his life. A week later they got the worst news possible. She had breast cancer and would need a mastectomy. Ellen told him the news and he proceeded to punch a hole in the apartment the two of them were now sharing. It was literally the worst news of his life. This was his mother. His beloved. His confidant. He was shaken to the core. She was only 52. The air deflated out of his life.

  He called Becky and told her he couldn=t work for her any more. The news was too devastating and he wanted to be able to be there at all times. It was way more dramatic than necessary, but Lloyd was paralyzed with fear that she was going to die. And soon.

  She underwent surgery as everyone prepared for the worst. How far had it had spread, what was her long-term prognosis, was she going to die? Lloyd was a mess. The family sat and waited to hear how awful the news would be and how long she had to live. It was the worst four hours of his life. After the surgery the doctors came out and they all had weird looks on their faces. They had performed the mastectomy, but found no other cancer in her body. And the other strange thing was they said that it appeared that she had bone cancer and had cured herself of that.

  In other words, besides the mastectomy, she was now perfectly healthy. It was an unbelievable change of events. It was nothing short of a miracle, only Lloyd didn=t believe in that stuff. But he did believe his mother possessed special powers and this only confirmed it. She would need no chemotherapy or anything. She was cured. It was inexplicable, but they didn=t ask a lot of questions. They were just overjoyed.

  His life, which was about to head in a perilous direction, had spun around 180 degrees. In retrospect, how his mother=s breast cancer treatment would affect his life seemed a bit dramatic, but in the heat of the moment he couldn=t think about anything else. Before he quit City Kitty, Becky was exceedingly nice and helpful in helping him deal with the trauma. He felt he owed it to her to give her the good news even though he hadn=t worked for her in a month.

  She was happy to hear from him, and offered him the job back if he wanted it. He hadn=t even thought about it but he took her up on the offer.

  That was really nice of her, she is really nice. I wonder if she is being nice or if she likes me.

  This book should be renamed The Dumbass. Let me speak to the publisher.

  Anyhow, two days later he was back in the land of dog poop and roses and was happy about it. Becky invited him over to her house ostensibly to talk about the future with City Kitty. He was under the impression that the other employees would also be there. He was incorrect.

  She lived in a studio apartment in a high-rise in the Gold Coast. She needed to live there to be near her clients, and paid a ridiculous amount of rent to show for it. She did have four cats, so he wasn=t far off on that part.

  She laid her cards on the table.

  Lloyd, I like you. I like you a lot. I think you are a sweet, genuine, nice guy. I think if you apply yourself, you can go far. I see something in you.

  AAm I getting fired?@ he asked, and he felt his anger rising. Why did she ask him back to work for her if she was just going to get rid of him.

  What is this? A job evaluation? This sucks. I didn=t come here for this.